Weatherhead

Appellant Leslie R. Weatherhead (‘Weath-erhead”) appeals under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552 . The request sought a letter from the British Foreign Office to the United States Department of Justice (“Justice”) related to the extradition of Sally Croft and Susan Hagan. The United States Department of State (“State Department”) withheld the letter under FOIA Exemption 1, which protects classified information from disclosure. 5 U.S.C. § 552 (b)(1). The district court initially ordered the letter’s disclosure. The government sought reconsideration of that decision, which the district court granted after conducting in camera review and concluding that the letter contained “highly sensitive and injurious material.” We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse.

BACKGROUND

On November 29, 1994, Weatherhead sent identical requests under FOIA to Justice and the State Department seeking a letter dated July 28,1994 from the British Foreign Office to George Proctor, Director of the Office of International Affairs, Criminal Division, Justice. The letter was related to the extradition of two women, Sally Croft and Susan Hagan, from the United Kingdom…

Dissenting.

The uneontradicted evidence before the district court established that the Home Office letter was sent by the British government to the U.S. Justice Department with an expectation of confidentiality and that damage to American national security would result from breaching that expectation. Those facts were proved by the uneontroverted declarations of two State Department officials, Patrick F. Kennedy and Peter M. Sheils, both of which were furnished in connection with the motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff offered no evidence to the contrary.

The Kennedy declaration is the most significant. Kennedy, an assistant Secretary of State, attested that it is longstanding custom and accepted practice in international rela *743 tions to extend “diplomatic confidentiality” to information exchanged between governments such as the information involved here. Kennedy stated that upon receipt of plaintiffs FOIA request, the American government consulted the British Embassy to seek its views on the possible disclosure of the letter. The British Embassy responded that its government did, indeed, expect the letter to remain confidential. In fact, the Embassy stated that British…